CHARACTERS from books and nursery rhymes gathered for the day in Oxenhope last week.

Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and the Gruffalo rubbed shoulders with Incy-Wincy Spider, Humpty Dumpty and Spiderman.

Village schoolchildren recreated more than 100 fictional people and characters for their first scarecrow festival.

They charged parents £1 each to see the scarecrows and donated the money to United Nations relief charity UNICEF, raising £280.

Oxenhope Primary School’s event, held to celebrate the Worldwide Day of Play, has been hailed a great success by head Kathrine Nutting.

She said: “They were mostly full-sized scarecrows, along with some little ones. We had a scarecrow-making day, which involved every child in every class.

“Lots of children also brought scarecrows in from home.”

The scarecrow festival grew out of the pupils’ work on human rights, such as the right to play and the right to be free from hunger.

The scarecrow-making day counted as play, and the fundraising will help projects to feed people in developing countries.

Oxenhope Primary School is also raising money to build a new bike shed, and recently received £172 raised by the village’s Co-op store through a name-the-teddy competition and by selling the Worth The Tour magazine.

The total collected so far stands at £906.

John Parkin, the school’s deputy head, said: “Once we have the final total we will look at the best way to spend it in order to create a fantastic bike and scooter storage area within school.”

The Friends of Oxenhope School have organised fundraising events this month, including a jumble sale and a bags-to-school collection.